‘The Orville’ Recap: ‘Lasting Impressions’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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If there’s one thing that fans of science fiction are trained to do in this day and age, it’s recognize what the genre is trying to accomplish in any given story since sci-fi is an established forum that provides us with so much familiarity. After all, we know we’re going to be treated to stunning visuals, wondrous technology that leaves us in awe and a tale that somehow examines our world by placing characters who are often ahead of us emotionally and socially into a conundrum similar to the ones we face, in order to see how their evolved sensibilities solve the problem. Which isn’t a bad thing by any means, because this go-to formula has brought us some wonderful stories through the years. 
 
But once in a great while, there are science fiction stories that challenge the norm, that demand the genre do more and be more and dive into parts of the human condition that fantastic tales in this vein normally won’t go near and that’s why I’m such a fan of The Orville. Because this series does just that, it dives into every single aspect of our humanity, and last night’s episode of the series, ‘Lasting Impressions’, is no exception to that rule. For this particular tale explored a few different elements of the human condition in bittersweet and magnificent fashion, all by bringing an unexpected surprise aboard the ship, a time capsule from 2015.
 
For within this capsule were all kinds of incredible artifacts from our modern world, including a cell phone that once belonged to a girl named Laura Huggins. And well, Laura, and everything she stood for outright fascinated Lieutenant Malloy, to the point where he poured over everything present in the phone and well, in order to properly know more about the person that left an entire life behind in a tiny little device, Gordon went above and beyond and created a simulation that allowed for him to interact with Laura and it didn’t take long for him to fall for this holographic recreation of a woman long gone from this universe and what came about from this part of the story was downright fascinating to say the least.

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​Because this entire segment taught us a great deal about Gordon, in that…he’s a true romantic through and through, and he’s tender and gentle and loyal when it comes to someone that catches his eye since he worked hard to make this digital projection of Laura happy and while those are great qualities for someone to exhibit in a relationship, in this instance, they weren’t helpful in the slightest. For this entire pursuit became a borderline obsession for Gordon, and it quickly informed us just how much Gordon wants to find an equal in this universe and experience the wonder that comes with that and that blinded him to the obvious fact that this would always end in tragedy. For buried in Laura’s text messages was the fact that she would eventually reconcile with her ex, and despite Gordon’s attempts to alter that and make this work to his liking, there was no rewriting history and eventually, Gordon let Laura go.
 
Yet, what stays with you long after this episode has come to its end, is not the romance in question, but what this love affair stood for. Because it really did remind all of us of the importance, we put upon finding someone to love, and with good reason, since the feelings that come with caring for someone special truly sends our spirits soaring, and this plot thread also reminded us that we should take what we learn from each relationship we are involved in to heart, since they help us learn and grow. But what truly fascinated me about this episode, was what it had to say about celebrating mankind. Because Laura implied, in subtle fashion, that she wasn’t anything special, but that clearly was not the case and the awe that came from Gordon was genuine because she did have plenty to offer this world, and the future and perhaps, seeing other people’s gifts and talents with the same admiration that Gordon exhibited in this tale, could do wonders for someone who is pondering upon whether or not they have value in this world…
 
Yet, while all of that was fascinating in its own right, there was some fine comedy to be found in this tale as well, and all of that was supplied by Bortus and Klyden, who discovered the wonder of cigarettes in this tale, and well…who knew Flavor Country could produce those kinds of laughs? Plus, I also need to take a minute and tip my cap toward Scott Grimes since his performance in this episode was utterly phenomenal. But in the end, this was simply a beautiful episode. One that really didn’t feel like a traditional science fiction tale in the slightest and I’m just fine with that. Because this tale reminded us once again that characters are king, and given the opportunity, sci-fi can explore more than just our problems, it really can celebrate the best parts of us, and considering how groundbreaking this show continues to be week in and week out, I do hope it starts to influence the genre as a whole, and we see more stories in this vein from other science fiction sagas down the line. Until next time.

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